Week 2: Site Specific Photocollage

Commodity – Anita Luo & Beatrice Zhang 

1. PROPOSAL

We are prompted to create a reinterpretation of a space that embodies the “spectacle” in Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord. With our documentation of the space, we can illustrate Debord’s social phenomena through the elements of art (line, color, shape, form, value, space, texture) to create a digital sculpture in Unity.

2. BRAINSTORMING

After doing an independent reading of Chapter 1 of Debord’s Society of the Spectacle, we shared a mind map of our understanding, ideas, and questions about the “spectacle” and the concept of “Separation Perfected.” Through this session of comprehension, knowledge-sharing, and examination, themes of autonomy, objectification, and representation were prominent. We chose our location based on these themes.

 

Main concepts from quotes:

• “social relation among people mediated by images“
• “autonomous images” and the “autonomous movement of the non-living“
• “technologies based in isolation” like “automobile to television” which has “constant reinforcement of…isolation of ‘lonely crowds‘”
• “separate pseudo-world that can be looked at“

3. INSPIRATION & CONCEPTUAL INTEGRATION

Concept #1: Nam June Paik

Nam June Paik – Dadaikseon (The more, the better)

Artist Nam June Paik explored how moving images and technology would become inherently embedded into the daily lives of humans through video art. While the artist conveyed the possibility of human connectivity, we wanted to adopt his use of television as a means to communicate the isolation a viewer may feel from autonomous moving images. In this way, we deviate from his artwork to critique the “spectacle.”

Concept #2: Robotic and autonomous

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu – Can’t Help Myself

We were inspired by the artwork’s intention to convey the repetitive and automated reality. Similarly, everything that we experience in our lives translates into fragmented arrangements of images and representations. As a result, we experience a “separate pseudo-world that can be looked at.” Ultimately, this perspective can be dehumanizing and depressing.

4. PROCESS

1. Using our mind map, we extracted some keywords to choose the space we wanted to document. We decided to explore a commercial setting that exhibited the concerns of capitalism and commodities. Thus, we went to Taikooli, a shopping mall characterized by lights, products, and luxury.
2. In Taikooli, we sought to find any space that brought about isolation to someone who would view it. A common motif in the shopping mall was shelves with objects placed at equal distances from each other. They could become fragmented arrangements of images in the consumer’s daily lives or become a representation of the consumer’s experience. Photos can be found under “7. APPENDIX.” 
3. Thus, we started to sketch ideas of different methods we could convey the ideas of having something but not being. In this ideation phase, we incorporated additions, subtractions, alterations, and combinations of our various ideas.

   

4. We further ideated ways to incorporate the documentation and our sketches in a more coherent and effective manner. Thus, we sketched our final idea which consisted of having televisions displaying experiences or memories on their screen that are placed on display shelves.

   

5. We added free unity assets of a television and shelf from the Unity Asset Store.

   

   

6. We opened a new 3D project on Unity and created a room for the sculpture.

   

7. We encountered a few problems. For example, we had the default magenta texture over all our objects. However, after watching this video, we were able to fix it! The other problem we encountered was being unable to import assets. Ultimately, we decided to use the textures from these assets and used our own 3D objects. 
8. By creating empty parents and grouping, duplicating the televisions was a relatively easy task.  

   

9. We then inserted quads with a video each. The videos taken in Taikoolii were edited using CapCut as its filter function was fast and accessible The same filter is used to create unity within the sculpture.

   

   The edited videos can be found below:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

10. We then adjusted the texture of the wall, floor, and ceiling to black. This enhances the isolation and creates a focal point in the sculpture. 
11. We lit the sculpture using a spotlight. Unfortunately, we could not make the videos emissive despite searching a lot of tutorials. The overlay of our software looked different from the ones in the tutorial. However, we would like to figure this out in the future.
12. We intended to embed scripts to create some animation. However, it did not add to the sculpture’s purpose so we discarded this idea.
13. We adjusted the lighting settings and rendering to make our sculpture immersive through lighting, texture, and color. Through the repetition of the television form and negative space, the sculpture evokes a sense of an impersonal relation or detachment for the viewer from the content of the television. 
14. Due to time constraints. we were unable to add the shopping cart from our sketch.

5. AUDIENCE RECEPTION & 6. CONCLUSIONS

In the Zoom class, we remotely shared our project and at the same time explained our concepts and creation process. One positive feedback is the specificity of the space – it is condensed into sculpture existing within a focused area, which fixes the audience’s attention to what we have created. Televisions are smart choices to embody the alienation in a commercialized society where people pay for experience and objects but lose their subjectivity as beings. On the other hand, we also received comments about our choice to use televisions as our subject matter. We are prompted to consider its implications on a deeper level. When making choices in a project we should consider why we make certain decisions, how effective they are, and whether there are alternative ways we could approach a concept. We think one of our main reasons for using the television is because the traditional function and understanding of it is to be looked at to receive information. Its one-way channel from the screen to the viewer highlights this human disconnectivity. In this aspect, we could not think of any other subject matter more suitable for this. However, in a modern context, we could find a subject that is more relatable to draw the audience and illustrate our message more effectively. Additionally, we also received feedback that the viewer can interpret the sculpture as surveillance cameras. As a result, we are also considering ways in which we can take advantage of this aspect—maybe surveillance can be a means to extend the critique of the spectacle. However, we believe that we could have avoided this issue if we added the shopping cart to the sculpture. Ultimately, through the repetitive and geometric form of the sculpture, we want to communicate the messages that the boxing, repackaging, condensing, concentration, and separation in the arrangement of society undermine the fluidity and flexibility of our experiences as living beings.

7. APPENDIX

Videos: IMG_9009 IMG_9013 IMG_8998 IMG_8997

8. REFERENCES

Debord, Guy. “Separation Perfected.” Society of the Spectacle, Black and Red, Detroit, 1977.